Southern Europe in spring 2020
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Birdwatching in southern Europe is wonderful in spring, and Heatherlea offer a superb and comprehensive choice of carefully crafted itineraries crammed with birds. These holidays are among our most popular in the world! We visit each destination at the best time to coincide with migration and early breeding, to give you the best birdwatching available. The total birdlist on these holidays combined comes to around half of all the birds in Europe, and if you choose Catalonia, or Bulgaria/northern Greece, you can reasonably expect around 200 species in a week or so.
In the CANARIES there are endemics and exotic north African birds more easily found here than on the continent, and we take you to three key islands.
The CAMARGUE contains a wide range of exciting birds, from bustards to Alpine Accentor, as we visit one of Europe's most important national parks, with habitats stretching from sea level to snow-clad mountains in a short distance.
In Italy, the waterbirds of the PO DELTA include Pygmy Cormorant, Caspian Tern, and a huge range of breeding herons and egrets in another of Europe's most important national parks. The Eternal City of Rome (next year only) is a great addition!
The islands of MALLORCA and SKYROS are very different, though the common theme is migration, which can be really exciting. Choose Mallorca for western European species at a relaxed pace ideal for the newcomer to overseas birding, or Skyros for exciting eastern specialities including Eleanora's Falcon, on a remote and underbirded island in the heart of the Aegean.
On mainland Iberia, EXTREMADURA in central Spain will be home to eagles, bustards, sandgrouse and many more, brimming with some of the best birding in Europe; CATALONIA has our unique itinerary, full of iconic birds, including the chance of Lammergeier and Dupont's Lark, as we take you from the Pyrenees to Ebro Delta (our third key coastal Mediterranean National Park on these tours). PORTUGAL in spring holds an impressive diversity of breeding birds, and we should uncover western European species hard to see elsewhere.
BULGARIA and NORTHERN GREECE was a great success on our first visit earlier this year, and if you like butterflies AND birds, our trip to Spain in May is ideal, from Tengmalm's Owl to Two-tailed Pasha! 
You will be accompanied by top guides with lots of experience, many from the region we visit, and others accompanying you from the UK. With Heatherlea it couldn't be simpler, all tours include our unique 'pre-flight service', so your airport hotel and a VIP lounge are in the price, plus we organise car parking and anything else you might need is charged at cost price, as part of our service.
All these tours filled quickly in 2019, and August is a key month for booking, so don't delay, we expect to enjoy the wildlife again in 2020!